The hiring trends were on a recovery mode for all the sectors during January to June 2018- reveals TimesJobs RecruiteX Biannual January- June 2018 Report.

The outsourcing industry is back on the hiring trends, focusing on re-skilling and future skilling employees in the past six months. With a lot of new technologies creating waves for hiring profiles, there is an upswing in recruitment in the digital space. TimesJobs spoke to the industry experts to share the hiring trends and projections during January-June 2018. We bring you the insights shared by Bernard Martyris, Chief Human Resources Officer – VFS Global.

What were the key hiring trends in your industry?Overall, our key hiring trends are linked to the demands of our clients who are all governments. We handle large volumes of visa and citizen service applications, and often operate in remote areas of the world, in challenging conditions. Therefore, our hiring requires looking for overseas experience, versatility in skill sets, and cross-cultural sensitivity that is best suited to the work culture of that environment. Furthermore, a visa processing and citizen service is part of a technology-sensitive industry, especially keeping in mind our goals of digitalisation of operations. So from this aspect too, the trend has shifted to scour for high-quality good digital-savvy talent, who are adept at handling sensitive applicant information.

What new recruitment technologies or methods did your industry adopt in recent time?We have moved from a conventional hiring method to a competency-based hiring approach. At the time of hiring, competency levels at every level in the organisation are clearly defined – this is an important prerequisite that allows us to map the applicant against clearly defined competency proficiency levels before we make a decision on hiring.
As a next step, continuous development of the talent pool, particularly up-skilling existing employees, is a key strategic priority. This is to ensure that employee output is best aligned with the overall organisation growth and goals. We have training engagements with top business schools (such as Indian Institute of Management, Indian Business School, etc.) so that high-potential employees are given additional training for career growth and progression through training in those institutions.

In the age of automation and machine learning, is your industry facing a skill gap in digital savvy professionals?As part of the IT-enabled services industry, the backbone of our operations rests on being effectively digitalised. Be it our entire HR backend which is digitised, or our front-end online operations, we have invested considerably in integrating automation and digital learning to upscale the business. While exploring new frontiers in artificial intelligence and end-to-end digitalisation through the use of Chatbots, Internet of Things, remote processing, etc., we are cognisant of the fact that many opportunities in the near future will require a digitally savvy workforce. This could well redefine the way we recruit and engage potential and existing employees.

How has technology changed recruitment in your industry?As the world is getting more wired, digital and flatter, in a sense, our recruitment trends too are gradually undergoing a paradigm shift. We are moving to more online recruitment as we recruit the Visa Application Centre Officers, for permanent and seasonal opportunities. These individuals are mostly millennials who are well acquainted with platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. Hence it is imperative for us to be on these platforms to tap into this demographic of talent. That said, yes, the possibilities of using social media for our hiring needs are seemingly endless.

How will technology change the future workplaces?Fast changing market dynamics and changing customer preferences dictate skills required at any workplace. In a digital age, skills we consider important now, may become redundant sooner than you can imagine and the need of the hour is dexterity and a very quick response to changes in the technological landscape.

From an HR perspective, we have made investments to integrate technology in our systems. For example, the entire HR back-end has been digitised, employee transactions are completely on SAP and cloud-based, payroll management is online and many operational, functional & strategic training programs are available online to cater to employee flexibility whilst undergoing online training programs. This facilitates flexibility to operate from remote locations, and increased accessibility to colleagues. The outcomes are obviously that work does not suffer even if the person is travelling, since decision-making and communication is timely, no matter where employees are.

What are the talent-related challenges for organisations?The trends from Baby Boomers to Generation X, and then on to Millennials known as Generation Y, have always been changing. Hence to identify the need of each generation of the workforce and balance it with the organisation’s objectives is a big challenge that organisations have to reckon with. Some of the key challenges for both employees and organisations are:

• To be relevant to the workforce in terms of work culture and environment
• How to imbibe technology in our overall engagement with employees right from the time they enter the company
• To become the employer of choice for the new generation
• Employee retention of relevant and top-performing talent